Pa. Firefighters Stop Bush Fire That Threatened Homes

Allentown firefighters stopped a 20- to 30-foot high wall of flames from a brush fire that had raced up wooded ridge from Constitution Drive toward about a half dozen houses on Skyline Drive early Wednesday morning.

Doug Smith said he heard loud knocking at his front door around 3 a.m. and could not imagine who could be waking him up. Before he opened door, though, Smith said he saw the glow from of emergency lights outside.

"We could see smoke billowing from behind one of the houses," Smith said. "I grabbed my grandmother's silverware and some pictures and the dogs and their medicine and some clothes and put them in the car."

Then he waited along with his neighbors.

"They told us to stand by just in case," Carol Magnelli of Whittier Drive said. "It was dark and you couldn't see anything. It was kind of scary because it's been so extremely dry."

Her neighbor, Andy Smerek, said, "We could see the light from the fire. It came pretty close. They were hosing down the houses."

Just as suddenly as the threat arose, residents said they were informed firefighters had fought back the flames and the danger had passed with only a few of the residents on Skyline Drive actually evacuating.

Firefighters stopped the flames just feet from the property lines of houses in the 500 block of Skyline Drive. At one point, Assistant Chief Lee Laubach said a wall of flames estimated to be about 200 feet wide and 20-30 feet high was rolling toward the homes.

"It was real close," Laubach said Wednesday morning after the danger had passed and residents were told they could return home.

Laubach said city police discovered the fire around 3 a.m. along Constitution Drive, and winds propelled flames up the ridge toward Skyline and Whittier Drives, which are north of the Cumberland Gardens housing project off Susquehanna Street.

"Thank goodness we have two hydrants up there because that was the biggest problem -- trying to get water in there," Laubach said. "It was labor intensive."

A volunteer water tanker task force from nearby municipalities responded to truck water to the scene.

By 6 a.m., all of the residents were allowed to return home and firefighters were starting to roll up their hoses. A few remained to hose down hot spots and cut down weakened trees, finishing around 11 a.m.

The extremely dry conditions combined with wind and low humidity the last two weeks have made brush fires an almost daily occurrence in the Lehigh Valley and Poconos region.

For city firefighters more accustomed to fighting fires in row houses, tackling a brush fire this large was challenging, Laubach said.

"This is probably one of the hardest fires for us to fight because we're not set up for it," he said. "It could have been potentially very bad."

There were no injuries or damage to buildings, but about two acres of the woods described on maps as the Lehigh Uplands Preserve were severely scorched between Constitution Drive and Skyline Drive.

Smith said the thought of having to evacuate was "a little scary" because of the uncertainty of the situation.

"You just hope you're coming back to a house that is going be there," said Smith, who never had to leave his house.

Laubach said city fire marshals are investigating to try to determine the origin and cause of the fire.

With the conditions as dry as they are, all outdoor burning has been banned in most municipalities. Laubach also said residents should be mindful about discarding their cigarettes and for motorists not to throw them out their windows.

"You see it on the roadways and people just flick their cigarettes out," Laubach said.

But with such dry and windy conditions, just one carelessly discarded cigarette could easily set off a fire like the one Wednesday morning in Allentown.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service